


Andromeda

by najaeri



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Astronauts, Astronomy, College, Comfort/Angst, Drama, Drama & Romance, Earth, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Interns & Internships, M/M, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28997946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/najaeri/pseuds/najaeri
Summary: 2.3 billion years later, Seonghwa is studying Astronomy at a very prestigious University with his best friend, Mingi. He decided to apply for an internship in one of the most popular and recommended observatories. Hongjoong is a professor and lead investigator of life beyond Earth, who has been unable to understand the loss of his expedition - which happened a long, long time ago. What both did not expect were more tragedies to occur once they met - they have no idea that Earth itself is trying to make them understand that they should have never crossed words.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	1. An

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic science-related. My apologies for the inaccuracies, I tried to research as much as I could, but I failed (and also suck) at science. lol
> 
> I hope that regardless, you guys enjoy it.

Seonghwa was sighing. He had no idea what he did wrong this time. The subject was too difficult and he was about to throw his notebook out of his window. He was in his third year - he had the most difficult classes and he was in his internship as well. He was also working part-time to get some more money in. He wasn’t actually needing it, but he wanted to gain experience in something. An internship wasn’t enough sometimes. 

“For God’s sake,” he said out loud, the blank Word document. He had this essay of a minimum of 20 pages due tomorrow and he doesn’t have any inspiration whatsoever to even start.

It reminds him of the exams. Sometimes, he wrote his name and date and spent 30 minutes trying to remember what he learned the last couple of weeks, until later on spring writing everything. That didn’t mean he got a high score, but it was decent enough to pass his classes.

“Why did I choose this career,” he reminded himself for the last time three times in a row, but deep inside, no matter how frustrated he was, he would always know the answer.

He loved stars.

And when he was about to continue with his self-reflection, he received a FaceTime call from his best friend, Mingi. 

He arched an eyebrow - it was easily 1 am. He didn’t have class until later in the day and tomorrow was his only free day from the internship. He would start a whole year in an undisclosed observatory. He applied for his top three choices, but the competition was tight. He understood that he could be rejected and he would need to apply next year, which would be his last salvation. He also didn’t work until very late at night, but he was sure Mingi had a class at 7 am, which he deemed as crazy. 

He still answered the phone.

“Hello?” asked Seonghwa, immediately laughing after seeing his face.

His eye bags were out of this world. His red, bright hair was completely unattended, and - was that mustard on the right side of his lip?

“Mingi, what just happened to you?” he said, trying to diminish his laugh.

“Research,” he said and the black-haired man could relate.

He hated that class.

He understands that the amount of research and paperwork is indispensable in his field. Throughout history, what they have done is document what they find so people like him, future astronomers, can continue to discover their relationships, the capability of the future, and so on. 

But he still loathed it. He had to do a project proposal on how the magnetized fluid on the galaxies was related to relativity and radial guns. He had a good grade and he was proud of his work. He had good team players as well, but that professor was what he considered a Nazi.

And knowing Mingi, he was sure he was struggling.

“I wish I could help you, but we cannot be together for more than a week,” was his explanation and the other understood. They didn’t have to mention anything else or explain because there was none. Some things were not supposed to be understood. “And your research paper is completely different than mine.”

“Yours was interesting,” mentioned the red-haired, sighing just like he did a couple of minutes ago. “I never understood the dark matter. There is not a lot to come up with, so I am stuck. Why didn’t my group choose something regarding stellar collision?” 

“Well, do they correlate?” 

“No.” 

“Then, do particle acceleration,” was Seonghwa’s suggestion and Mingi had a new idea based on that.

“You are a genius!” he mentioned out loud, the flow of words coming rapidly to his mind. “It is a pity we always have bad luck after a week, but I am really glad that at least, we can talk to each other like this.” 

The black-haired male just smiled. “Write it as a note and go to sleep. You have class.” 

“Sleeping? In Astronomy? I have never heard of that,” his sarcastic voice flooded the room, but the oldest rolled his eyes.

“Good night, Mingi,” was all he said before hanging up. His best friend could talk for hours straight no matter how tired he was, but he had a paper due, and he needed to concentrate. He needed to at least have an outline and he would probably not sleep, but that’s his own fault.

He should not procrastinate. He knew better, he wasn’t a newbie on this. But he binged-watched Lucifer and here he was, regretting his life in general. 

+++

Yunho was looking at the millions of monitors. They weren’t as much, but he liked to think they were. Most of the people working were looking at a particular one, but he wasn’t concentrating on that screen. His eyes were located in another, whom everyone seemed to ignore, but him.

And usually, the biggest discoveries came from there.

The tall man started to walk towards that monitor, the chair unoccupied and he sat down, clicking one of the recording buttons. They were supposed to be recording 24/7, but not all of the satellites were done with that proposition. He continued to watch the starlight when he immediately saw another appearing. Could it be that it was unnoticeable by the radar, or that it combined itself with another to become bigger. He wasn’t sure, but that wasn’t his forte.

He was there to watch the movements of the objects, or celestial bodies, of the galaxy.

Just like the one he was going to see.

“Displacement with a time interval,” he said, but mostly to himself. Then, the luxury nova merged, creating a brilliant, red star. 

“We lost it!” mentioned a crew member, but the tall man just stood up, smiling at whoever shouted. He sighed in relief, knowing that he was attentive enough to actually record the entire process.

That meant they were going to do better and proper research regarding the way the two stars aligned to the object and shocked between themselves. 

“I will start with the drawings,” was his response, going to the big table that was in the middle of the observatory. He preferred the classical way, doing batches by himself to make sure his brain was working the correct way and passing them into the computer for more accurate results. For people, he was wasting his time. For himself, he was ahead of the game.

Just like the existence of the Universe is an enigma, so is technology. In the less expected way possible, it could fail you. 

He didn’t know how much time he spent drawing the formulas on the paper, but he knew a lot of time passed when he was tapped on the shoulder. 

Yunho looked at the newcomer and stood up, giving him a small bow. It was his superior, not exactly his boss, but more like his mentor. He was the director of the Stellar Kinematics program in the observatory.

“Hey,” he greeted him with a small smile. “I just came to say hi. You are mostly never here.” 

“I know,” he replied with a simple smile. “The University gets most of my time.”

“You are a good professor,” said the director. “But, I also came here to give you some news.” 

Yunho stood quietly, the paper still in his hands.

“We have three new internships,” he mentioned, inviting the other to walk with him to an office. Most of them had open spaces, but they weren't enclosed offices. They needed to be close to each other in emergencies. Although he was mostly a professor, he came from time to time when they expected or sensed that something was going to happen that needed his brain.

Today was one of those days.

“We are very careful with who we select,” he said, opening the door for Yunho. “I don’t even read these applications.”

“Which makes me wonder why are you telling me this,” was the tall man’s reaction shortly after. The director simply smiled and gave him three thick files. Yunho accepted them, still confused as to what was happening.

“The University asked me to tell you that you will be in charge since we need you more here,” started the director with the good news. Yunho didn’t know how to feel, but he was fine. He liked the observatory too, but sometimes it could be months before something happened. Although space was a different issue altogether, for them it was that amount of time, but for the universe, 9000 years of light passed in their eyes without them knowing.

Time was different, something not a lot of people understood easily.

“The Triangulum Galaxy is becoming too near,” he spitted out, earning a preoccupied look from the tall astronomer. “We always thought that it would be Milky Way and Andromeda, but it seems that we are failing.” 

“We are 300 years from that,” said Yunho. “And the people from before even said that we would not exist anymore due to the Sun becoming closer to us. Yes, we have 45% more cancer and our mortality is near 67%. What I am saying is that we are getting too ahead of it.” 

“They also thought we could know where the water came from, and what was a pre-big bang, but we still have not discovered it,” followed his train of thought. “There’s still half or even more enigma than before, but we are counting our days and that is something we have to prepare ourselves for.” 

Yunho simply sighed, knowing that his knowledge won’t change the mind of his mentor. He was right, but scientifically, he wasn’t. Back in 2020, they said the merger between Andromeda and the Milky Way was going to happen in 3.4 billion years. When it was 9095, they said it was 5.6, 2.2 billion years more. The year he was living in, T36 (2.3 billion years after 2020), since numbers were becoming impossible to write, was .1 billion years away from the discovery, and every year, or a decade, that passed, they continued to say we were 300 years away.

And based on his theory, he would estimate based on the stellar, they had roughly another million years.

The Triangulum has not moved directly to the black hole object between the three galaxies. It wasn’t even near it. He did not know where this theory was coming from.

Heck, humans at that time continued to say that they would have flying cars, and the only similar thing they had was flying. 

And that the theories of life beyond Earth were true. Mars was warmer and wetter a trillion years ago, meaning he held life until a point. They were still figuring out what happened that the humans came to Earth.

“One of the students had a theory on how the galaxies were not approaching each other, but more like _something_ was approaching them,” he started to explain. “It could be the light, the dark matter, the collisions that have been happening often - but there is a connection.”

“I haven’t heard so much bullshit in the same sentence,” were the tall man’s words, crossing his arms and legs. 

“The other one was chosen due to his research regarding light,” he completely ignored what the other said. “He continuously improved and researched how the light was formed outside of the celestial bodies.” 

“Now, that’s interesting,” was his response.

“The last one…” he paused for a bit, looking for the better words or explanation. “The universe is actually a human mind."

"That sounds pretty ridiculous," was his thought. Would they care? No. he knew they liked things as outrageous as that one. 

"Well, the way he demonstrated it made sense," said the director. "But I will let you judge them. The reason I called you here it’s because you’ll be in charge of the project. You will be in charge of their progress and be the direct supervisor. You’ll also meet another professor, which is the lead of Astrobiology, who’ll back you up. We will start tomorrow.”

Yunho sighed. He wasn’t liking the idea, but he couldn’t say anything else. So he decided to simply suck it up, and know that there was nothing he could do to get out of it. 


	2. Get

Seonghwa was nervous, it was his very first time in the observatory. He wasn’t supposed to do another internship until his last year, but he was chosen as a pre-candidate. That meant he would be able to stay there for two years instead of one. It increased the employment rate and he could actually be chosen as a future employee. In all matters, he was ahead of the game.

“Hi!” he heard a cheerful voice beside him. He looked to his right and greeted the other person shyly.

“Are you here for the internship?” he said. He looked around his age, but he wasn’t certain. The black-haired male nodded to the person.

“Me too!” he replied, extending his hand. “My name’s Yeosang.” 

“Seonghwa,” he responded, taking his hand as well.

“From what University are you from?” asked the blonde.

“Oakleaf,” and the other acted surprised.

“You got accepted into my dream University,” he said with a smile, Seonghwa smiled in return, but deep inside, did not know what to do.

He was a tad confused. This internship was hard to enter and it was a miracle he got accepted. However, his University wasn’t the best in Astronomy, there were a lot of other universities that specialized in what he wanted, but the acceptance rate was ridiculous. It was less than 1% and he didn’t make the line. 

“Where are you?”

“Europa State University,” he replied, earning a gasp from Seonghwa.

Talking about difficult universities, that was his top University. How come he wanted to be in his when that one was way better?

“I know,” said Yeosang, scratching his head. “But the program in Oakleaf is way better. And it includes astrology. Something my curriculum doesn’t have.” 

Seonghwa wouldn’t attest to that, he was right. He is currently doing a minor in astrology, which is closely related to astronomy, but it was the fictional part of what he was studying. It was a white lie for people to trust others and he wanted to know how it came to that point. How did people think it was a good idea to decide your love life and overall interests in comets that were basically dead?

“Well, we are going to be partners for two years, so I’ll give you my astrology notes,” said the black-haired student. “I am doing it as a minor.”

“Sounds great! Thanks a lot!” replied a very enthusiastic Yeosang and he was about to continue when both saw another figure coming their way. 

“Mingi?” said Seonghwa, very surprised to see his friend there.

“Hwa?” he called him back, a bit taken aback at his presence.

“I guess you two know each other,” was all Yeosang said. It wasn’t awkward, but they were legitimately surprised.

“You got accepted too?” asked Seonghwa, still in shock at his presence. “Wasn’t it supposed to be one member per university?”

“I have no idea,” replied Mingi. “But I got the acceptance letter.” 

And it reminded Seonghwa about their “curse”. He didn’t want to mention it in front of the newcomer, it was going to scare him.

“Damn, Hwa, we aren’t supposed to be more than a week together, how’s this going to work?”

Yeosang laughed at his comment and both looked at him. The blonde simply smiled at them. 

“Okay, sorry, I know I don’t know any of this conversation, but that was funny,” was his response. “This is an idea - have you guys tried to be around a person that’s not you too for more than a week?” 

Both denied.

“Then, I’ll be your new guide,” was his response. “And we should go inside because we will be late.” 

Mingi and Seonghwa were confused but still followed the newcomer. After all, they needed to present themselves and start working on what they wanted. That’s the reason they were there.

Once they were inside, they were requested to print their fingerprints on a digital machine. They also scanned their eyes and opened their mouths to take samples. As the technology involved, signatures were no longer required. This was a way of saying you agreed with everything inside the facility. 

The secretary greeted another person and asked him to take the students somewhere else. That person nodded and asked them to follow him, which they complied with.

They were mesmerized by the observatory. It was the biggest on Earth and only the most prominent people worked there. Not only the theories they had were correct, but also the extensive research is done to prove them has been the talking of the new science. Thanks to those discoveries, they were able to expand their knowledge and know other planets that sustained life. 

But no life has been discovered yet. 

They had the basics, microorganisms were there - the beginning of life was at their door, but they still had a long way to go. They were also focusing on the possible merge that was supposed to happen in 300 years, but no known movement. It has been a long talk, and a long discovery, but it was still unknown to this point. As humans, they could travel further, but they weren’t able to find a habitable planet within their galaxy.

And a lot of astronauts stood there, lost in between. The way gravity worked was the same way everyone expected - it could suck people and make them stay without any reason. 

Their different thoughts came to an end when a door was opened. It was a meeting studio with a one-way mirror and surrounded by the discoveries on each planet, which they found very interesting.

“The two professors should be on their way here,” explained the scientist. “One is the head of the Stellar Kinematics and the other is the lead investigator of the Astrobiology Division.” 

They all nodded and the person left shortly after.

Not even a couple of minutes passed of them thinking about the different questions they had for each department head when both came inside the room. The head of the stellar kinematics had a black turtleneck with an oversized long coat colored deep blue and black pants. His hair was black and long, he looked extremely handsome and Mingi caught himself admiring him  _ as a man _ , rather than as a professor.

He almost slapped himself.

On the other hand, the investigator was dressed in Capri orange pants and a very common shirt. It was beige-colored, his hair chocolate covered. His hair was in a small ponytail. 

“Hi,” were Yunho’s words. “I am Dr. Jung, but you can call me Yunho. I am the head of the stellar kinematics department of this observatory.”

“I am Dr. Kim,” he looked more serious than the other. “I am the current investigator of the Astrobiology Division.” 

“We were expecting three students from three different universities,” mentioned Yunho, looking at Seonghwa and Mingi. “I think there was a mistake, but we will clarify it. They might add another one to your group, but we will know later today or tomorrow,” was his news. “Now, we will divide you guys up based on your thesis, which was the introductory research that got you guys here.” 

“Park Seonghwa and Kang Yeosang will be with Dr. Kim,” he mentioned. “Song Mingi, you’ll be with me.” 

All of them nodded.

“We will coordinate activities to make sure you also learn about our jobs, but since the thesis was clear on what you guys were interested in, it will be more adaptable this way,” continued Yunho. “Today will be mostly on showing the areas, your desks, and assigning the projects we are currently working on, any questions?” 

The students remained silent.

“I’ll see you around 3?” asked the head to the lead, and the other simply nodded.

+++

Seonghwa was fascinated with the observatory. He was beyond excited, but he was serious. His professor was very calm, composed, but too quiet. He was that way as well, but he looked like he was missing something. It was weird to think of it, but that’s how he felt.

“This is our space,” he stopped and directed himself to the students. There was a door indicating the research name of the project they were collaborating for and the team he was leading. “We are dispersed in different observatories, but my team is the supervisory team of the smaller teams. We also guide astronauts, since they are the ones that go for us to investigate. We make sure that they have the outlining plan and we work closely with Operations, who communicate directly with astronauts in orbit.” 

“I was told by a professor that there is actively a mission on an orbiting red-dwarf star,” mentioned Seonghwa. “It has the potential to be a sign of life.” 

Hongjoong almost smiled, but he didn’t. He did enjoy it when students did their research appropriately. It made him appreciate the fact that they were studying because they cared, not because it was a popular career due to what was happening.

“And our goal is to make them return safely,” concluded the professor. “They are still 1 year away.” 

“We aren’t close to light yet, but almost there,” was Yeosang’s comment with a smile surrounding his face. “They have been there for 7 years. When humans could finally get to Neptune, it was impossible in 2020. After a couple of trials, it was made possible to be there in T10.” 

“Thousands of years later, but we made it,” mentioned Seonghwa with a smile. 

“We will communicate with the captain in a couple of hours,” announced Hongjoong. “After that, I will give you clear instructions and you can come back tomorrow.” 

Both of the students nodded.

On the other side of the observatory, the room was surrounded by computers and people actively working with the telescopes in different sites of the galaxy. Each person had a goal of monitoring asteroids and any celestial bodies that were close to exploding, near a black hole or evolving into two. 

“We had a discovery early today,” mentioned Yunho, asking the student to sit down in front of him. “Two stars clashed with each other, they migrated together and we changed the name.” 

“It was you who discovered it?” said Mingi with a smile. “Not surprising.” 

“Why?” asked curious Yunho, taking his computer with a small portable beside it. “I am not the only person who discovers stellar.” 

“But you are considered one of the best,” simply said Mingi, his smile never decreasing. 

He decided he liked this kid. “Thank you,” he said but continued to the more serious stuff. “You said in your thesis that light could be created outside of celestial bodies. I think this is something that you had a good base in, but it needed more. I decided that we are going to use this and credit you if we, indeed, find something that creates light separate from what we know.” 

Mingi nodded, excited at the news. That was huge. He was going to be part of a discovery and if his theory of light was correct, he could be the youngest person to have ever made research of sorts.

“Your role will be to explore stars beyond our galaxy,” he indicated. “We already know how many planets and stars we have. We know about life outside, but we have yet to get to other galaxies. We still have so much to work with and we are close to getting inside the Andromeda. Your job will be to look for celestial bodies that match Earth and that could create light like our Sun.” 

Mingi nodded, knowing the project would be exhausting, but worth it.

And he was more than ready.


	3. Slow

Hongjoong was sitting down in a room, the interns already having left for the day. He was in complete silence, his office being on another floor than his team. He liked to be apart from everybody, and not because he felt uncomfortable with people, he wasn’t a good talker.

He was great at exploring stars, but he wasn’t the best at communication. He lacked that skill and it also didn’t help the fact that he was mostly surrounded by telescopes and computers. He only gave orders and was supposed to give a couple of instructions here and there, nothing else.

He didn’t know why he accepted to train people when it was clearly going to be a pain, but he had to admit that the theories they had made sense in his brain and he would like them to develop those while they were there. They had two years to go, so it was a start. 

But why was he so impressed with that guy, Seonghwa? He could easily beat him in terms of years. Humans were living longer than before due to the capability of evolving, their brains were also being used at 20%, which meant more language, more artistry, and more of plenty of other things. That also meant more people were dying, and that people got away with things easier than before at times, but technology has conquered as expected and has taken through a lot of jobs. Around 65% of your usual jobs were done by robots.

This is the reason why he wasn’t supposed to behave this way with a college student. Although he would live longer than average, it wasn’t due to happen.

He also reminded him of a constellation. With those beautiful, big, brown eyes…

“Dr. Kim,” he finally heard the other and he immediately stood up, his teammate looking at him with an arched brow. 

“Yes?” was his response, standing up shortly after his thoughts were shattered.

“About time,” smirked Yunho. He has been calling him for the last minute and he has not gotten any response from him. Whatever he was thinking about, he was in a deep dilemma with himself.

“The Director asked me to find you,” he said. “May I sit down?” Hongjoong nodded and the head of kinematics sat down gracefully, crossing his legs afterward. 

“Since it was a mistake from upper management, they decided to include another student,” he began to say, knowing the other was carefully listening to him. “He will be on my spectrum.” 

“Related to kinematics?”

“Kind of,” replied the tallest of the two. “It was a mix of both,” he began to explain. “It was regarding the holographic principle and how it was more into an unexpected connection of a computer disorder.” 

“Sounds very… dramatic,” expressed the lead investigator. “You have never believed in my work. Why would you accept his theory?” 

“Two things,” started Yunho to say. “First, I do not think you should have three students under your care. I think it would be too overwhelming.” 

Hongjoong didn’t say anything, but he did agree. He could barely sustain two, he would definitely struggle with three.

“Second, it is not that I do not believe in your work,” he continued. “We found microorganisms on Neptune, the furthest planet in our solar system, the one we never thought we would get something based on its atmosphere and surface. We found that Mars indeed had a civilization. We might find that the new red-dwarf with Earth-size planets could have oceans and mountains, but it is not enough proof to indicate that a human could be sustained there. Science can fall sometimes, too. We need oxygen, water - main things that no other planet has been able to have in its capacity.”

“However, I do believe that  _ something _ no one has been able to explain happened in Neptune.” 

The investigator sighed. It has been his least favorite subject for a long time. On Neptune, it has been a sole year since his disappearance, but on Earth, more than 165 years have passed since it happened and he still felt guilty every day. That could be the reason why he hated to be attached or liking people in general. 

He wanted another commander to go, but he insisted… He wasn’t prepared.

“I know it is not your favorite thing to talk about and I will not continue the discussion,” said Yunho. “But the way it happened, I’m never buying it.”

Hongjoong sadly smiled, but he let his silence speak for himself. 

He wasn’t buying it after all these years either. He wouldn’t believe it and the main reason he continued the experiments of finding black holes and new life is the same reason why Yunho still spoke to him. Something over there happened that the science wasn’t able to explain. 

“Maybe we need a new insight,” he stated his opinion. “That’s why I want him under my team.” 

The investigator nodded, allowing him to keep the new student.

“What’s his name?” he asked.

“Choi Jongho,” he mentioned. “He will start tomorrow, I will hologram you once he is here.” 

“It is my queue to leave,” said Yunho, standing up after the short conversation. “I have some work to do, and don’t feel guilty about liking Seonghwa,” were his last words before he left, unable to catch the other’s surprising face.

On the other side of the city, Seonghwa was eating out with his new friend, Yeosang and Mingi. The latter was sharing his experience with the professor of kinematics and Yeosang was telling him how they spoke with the astronauts on their mission to the new red dwarf star. 

“I cannot believe so many years have passed, and they have yet to be there,” mentioned Mingi, eating a side of what looked like steamed pork, but meat is almost extinct from the planet, so it was mostly mushrooms with a thick sauce. “How crazy is this world.” 

“As crazy as it can be,” mentioned Yeosang, drinking a bit of the soup made out of Neptunian water. “We were born almost in the extinction of humans, after us, a lot of people will cease to exist. Our natality is so low.” 

“And somehow, people still give birth,” continued Mingi. “We basically destroyed everything, we don’t have much left.” 

“Which is why astronomy exists,” followed his train of thought the newcomer. “Without us, most people would have been doomed anyway. Note that we do deserve it.”

The chat between them was kind of interesting, but Seonghwa was lost in thought. He was focusing on his food, but also on his troubled man. Ever since he saw the professor, he felt… things. Things he couldn’t explain and things he shouldn’t feel. 

And he didn’t know how to move forward.

He was serious, dedicated to his job. He looked young, but genetics have changed for humans due to evolution. He was older - way older than he was, but he was amazing at what he did. He continuously tried to convince himself that he was just another person, that he was simply  _ liking _ the guy because they had the same thoughts, but there was something else he couldn’t define and he wasn’t liking it.

Seonghwa sighed for the third time, his mind coming back to the chat the other two had.

“I will admit something, though - this is way out of topic,” decided to change their conversation the second tallest. “I like Yunho.” 

“Wait,” said Yeosang, trying to capture his meaning. “Did I hear correctly?”

“You did,” he said, a hint of blush on his cheeks. “He’s perfect.” 

“Oh wow,” said the blonde with a slight smile on his face. “Are you sure about that?” 

“Yes, and it’s going to be hard to see his beautiful face every day when he is only my professor.” 

“But at least you can admire him,” continued Yeosang. “It could be worse.” 

“It could,” he said in return, his eyes on top of Seonghwa. “You are too quiet, are you okay?”

“I am just tired,” said the astrology student. “And I work tomorrow. I do not know how I am going to do this.” 

“You can do it,” said Mingi with a smile covering his face. “You always do.” 

Seonghwa simply nodded, slurping a bit of his soup as well. He didn’t say anything else. It’s not like he wasn’t interested, but he rather ignored the topic.

He was confused about his own thing, he shouldn’t listen to them anymore. It was going to end up being messier than it already was and he didn’t need that in his life. He was plenty busy to get more things on his plate.

But why couldn't he stop himself from thinking about him?

Seonghwa decided to stand up, giving them the excuse of wanting to go to the bathroom, which they believed quite easily as they continued to chat. The black-haired male went outside and looked at the stars, the Milky Way path being clear on his human eyes. The galaxy has changed so much over the years, that they could distinguish stars and planets from where he stood, no telescope needed. 

They were nearing the end of the world as they have suspected and known for years, but was he ready for it? No one was, it was a dilemma. 

“He reminds me of a constellation,” were his words to himself, knowing that Hongjoong wasn’t going to leave his mind that easily.

And he didn’t know how to admit that he wanted the professor to look at him in another way.


	4. Lose

Seonghwa was back in the observatory office. He was outside waiting for Mingi and Yeosang. He had a couple of minutes to spare, and they wouldn’t be late. It was 7:00 am and they wouldn’t start until 8:00 am. He had to admit he was earlier than expected, but there was another reason that got him there.

A reason named Dr. Kim. 

He bit his lips to himself. He hasn’t seen him coming in, yet. He was eagerly waiting. He did want to see him by himself, just to take a glance at his beautiful self. He wanted to look at him  _ as a man _ rather than as a professor. But he wanted to do it without judging eyes around him.

They didn’t know how he felt, but he wasn’t ready to admit it  _ yet _ .

And then, his reasons were heard. He saw Hongjoong in a pair of blue glasses, a blue shirt, and shots. The usual. In the times he has seen him, he has not worn a single pair of long shorts. Seonghwa hid his excitement and tried to look uninterested, but he knew that deep inside, he wanted the other to see his way.

He admitted that his face changed to a surprised one when he saw the man he admired in front of him. 

“Hello, Dr. Kim,” he said with a bow, the other just looking at him. He didn’t appear mad or happy, he was just being himself.

“It is early,” he said to the student. “Are you waiting for the other two?”

The black-haired man nodded. He didn’t dare to speak more. He was extremely nervous.

“Have… you eaten?” he said and wanted to continue talking when the alarm of the building suddenly started. Hongjoong’s first insight was to pull Seonghwa to a corner and lock him there, they were extremely close to each other, but the building was shaking, he could feel his feet almost gravitating from the ground. Seonghwa swallowed a gasp, both of their bodies meeting each other while it continued to move significantly. 

Pieces of debris were falling around them, while the professor’s instinct was to  _ protect _ him. 

They both didn’t know how long it lasted, but when it finally came to an end, Seonghwa was shaking immensely. Hongjoong was out of breath, but he was calmer than the student. He has lived through a couple of these things, but this one was intense - and he was glad they were not around any oceans. 

He took the student and locked his hand with his as a way of comfort. The black-haired male did not notice it, but he felt his heart calming down. He also did not notice he was being dragged inside the facility, which did not suffer a lot of damage apart from the usual, and the people inside it were running back and forth. Hongjoong saw the computers and a very upset Yunho in the middle of the chaos.

_ Oh, _ he thought. 

This wasn’t an earthquake. 

Seonghwa seemed still shaken and disturbed, so Hongjoong helped him to sit down for a bit.

“Hey,” he called him, and somehow, the other looked at his eyes. He almost became lost in them, but he needed to react - fast. He couldn’t engage in the constellations he saw. “When you are better, come to me.”

Seonghwa simply nodded and Hongjoong went to Yunho. He was walking back and forth, his hair being a mess and his coat long gone, which was weird.

That meant he lost his patience and he wasn’t taking this lightly.

“Explain,” said the professor of astrobiology, being as professional as possible.

“We were monitoring a couple of asteroids that were close to the Earth,” he started, giving an insight of the other on how this happened. “Somehow, even when our fabulous technology is 99.99 accurate, there was one that failed the monitor. When I saw it, it was too late - it impacted Tsunoshima. It was 5km - half the size, but reckless damage. It had radioactive materials. They are trying to secure people in secure bomb shelves, but we have half of the Earth covered in dust.” 

“Let me see the monitor,” indicated Hongjoong, his eyes fixated on the telescopes outside in the atmosphere. 

Just like Yunho said, half of the world was covered in dust. It was like a cloud of sand was covering the sun and he wasn’t liking that.

“Expected damage was around 304 T,” said Yunho, clicking some other codes for more information. “The island disappeared. The Honshu Island was wiped by half, hundreds of people dead, with substantial injuries and we expect a tsunami because it was in the middle of the island and the coast.” 

“How many minutes until the tsunami?” asked the other professor.

“20 minutes,” was his response. “The alarm went off, they are picking people by helicopter and putting them closer to land. We should not expect any casualties as we have time.” 

Hongjoong was about to ask another question when he saw Seonghwa coming with a piece of paper.

It was a very detailed drawing of the debris outside in the space based on his calculations and the conversations he was hearing back and forth.

The astrobiology professor looked at Seonghwa, while Yunho snatched the paper from him. There was a tense silence for around 2-3 minutes, the other two fixedly looking at each other until they heard the stellar kinematics professor.

“Fuck!” he exclaimed. “Wooyoung!” 

“Yes?” said the man, running towards him. He was basically his right hand, he was in charge of the special kinematics team, which tried to prevent things like this, but he wasn’t on the turn when it happened. He came shortly after the earthquake.

“Look at this,” showed him Yunho, his expression in a worrying phase. 

“No,” he told him, fear coming through his brain. “That cannot happen,” he said, quickly getting into one of the computers, going through the coordinates that Seonghwa did.

There was a piece of debris of the meteor coming its way. It was the same size.

That meant that the meteor was actually 10km, which would be the same size as the one that extinct dinosaurs and almost extinct humanity a couple of million years back. The difference is that it split before the meteor fell, and they were in another position. At that rate, it could impact between one or two days. 

Earth wasn’t ready for this,  _ again. _

“How did you predict this, Seonghwa?” asked Yunho while he saw Wooyoung moving more people, and holograms being transmitted in the speed of seconds.

“The earthquake,” he said. “It wasn’t normal. The buildings are made from platinum steel, it is hard to see debris falling unless it is stronger than a 10.00, which has never occurred since it would be a fault on the entire Earth.” 

“We are almost there, though,” said Yunho, continuing the chat. 

“And also, the vibration,” continued the student. “The alarms were designed to protect people from unpredicted situations, but if it were an earthquake, the ground could have fallen, it moved in a simple direction, like kinematics.” 

“When you said it was 5km, I saw the computer,” he signaled it. “And it said 6.3. There is no way the computer could have made such a mistake, so I did Earth’s coordinates,” he explained. “When I did, it appeared that the meteor was 18km, but it shattered on its way here to 10km, then, it seemed to collide with another celestial body and it became 5km and 5km. Both were separated and in different coordinations, both undetected when this happened. Even though we have evolved to know much more about our neighbors, we have that blind spot from our satellites.” 

“We are able to predict 95%, but that 5% has always been a bother and it is the same one we have always tried to conquer,” indicated Hongjoong, impressed at a student’s work. He has seen a lot of good astronomers, but he was different.

He was beginning to think this might be the reason why the student reminded him of so many stars at once.

“He’s right,” said Wooyoung, looking at the black screen. “Both came from the blind spot. The coordinates are correct. We cannot see it, but the vibration is there. The space telescope is measuring the object in a crude way, but it is around 90% accurate.” 

“We have less than 48 hours,” he continued. “We have to make it quick.” 

“I’m going,” said Yunho, looking at Hongjoong. “We will stop it in time.” 

Hongjoong only nodded at his words and didn’t say anything else. However, the black-haired professor knew it meant to take care of himself. He wasn’t prepared to have another loss that easily. 

“Wooyoung, call the commander, we are doing KITA Mission. Have ready the pilot and the shooter,” were his last words before he went somewhere else.

“Is he going to space?” asked Seonghwa while he looked at the astrobiology professor. The latter nodded and sighed. He wasn’t happy with that decision, but he would learn to cope with it somehow. 

“Can I go with him?” was his response and the other replied too quickly for his liking.

“No,” he was stern on his decision, but he also explained why. “You are a student, you haven't graduated. You don’t have the degree needed to go to space. Even if we were to hire you here, you need your master’s.” 

“Oh,” was his response, not saying anything else.

But Hongjoong thought the most insane thing it has ever come to his mind.

_ I cannot lose you too. _


	5. Nera

Hongjoong was in front of the computer. He hasn’t been able to sleep. Yunho is already in space with the crew, but somehow, he was restless. He knew the probability of something happening was null, but that slight percent always bothered him. After losing his best friend in space, he has become less attached and people seem to be co-workers rather than friends. He didn’t want to go through another heartbreak. 

It also did not help that he was in love with him.

He admitted it later,  _ way _ later on, and he already went past it, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t hurt as much as he did at that time. It was too hurtful and he was hesitant to do this all over again. 

Hence, he was reserving his feelings for Seonghwa.

The damned student was living rent-free on his thoughts and he wasn’t enjoying it. 

Wooyoung was in front of him, talking with the professor. The interns have yet to arrive, but they were expected to move from their usual place to somewhere near the facility. Since the emergency, there were lots of things happening outside of what they had and the observatory would pay for them to be near them. They needed as many brains and hands as possible, and he had to admit that without Seonghwa, they wouldn’t have been able to determine it as accurately as he did. 

The guy was a brain and he wasn’t liking the fact that the guy wasn’t only intelligent, but devilish attractive.

It was playing with his heart, just like it happened with his long-lost love. 

“Hongjoong,” called him Wooyoung, taking him out of his train of thoughts. He didn’t reply, but he looked at the other, letting him know he was listening.

“Yunho wants to speak to you, privately,” he said. He didn’t notice any annoyance in his voice. Hongjoong simply nodded and started to walk towards his office. It didn’t take him long to be there when he closed the door and waved his hand at the screen, the Yunho hologram appearing in front of him.

“ _ Hey,” _ he greeted him and the investigator saw him sitting down. “ _ I wanted to tell you this before anyone else.” _

Hongjoong didn’t say anything, he waited for him to talk.

_ “I… went to the Space Station in Titan,” _ he warned him before talking, but hearing that the other did not respond, he continued.

_ “I emitted signals on the satellite we created to find him,” _ he continued. Hongjoong has not forgotten about it, but it was a hidden gem they had. The satellite could not only pick up signals of potential life, they could also find black holes and other things that they weren’t focusing on. 

And it was decommissioned. Since it has been so long since he disappeared, they thought they would destroy it, but Hongjoong never did. He kept the passwords, changed the codification with Yunho’s help, and decided to keep it just in case something happened. 

_ “There’s… a message,”  _ the astrobiology professor looked at the other like he was crazy, but his thoughts went away when the other shared.

_ I am on Earth. _

“That’s impossible, Yunho.” 

“ _ I know!” _ he said in return.  _ “This is the reason why I contacted you. The message was given a couple of hours after the asteroid hit the Earth and you know well I do not believe in coincidences.”  _

“I need to go,” said Hongjoong, but he saw Yunho denying with his head.

_ “Are you leaving Seonghwa?” _ the professor kept himself quiet, but he also knew the other was very well right. 

He wasn’t prepared. They even wanted to convince him to try and do it after what happened and he refused to go. He didn’t want to accept his disappearance and the main reason why Yunho was in another station was because of this. They were separated and he lost contact because he wanted to. When they presented him to be his partner, he nearly cried.

He didn’t want this to happen all over again.

Why was Yunho there when he  _ felt _ something for another? Was it a signal?

“Why?” asked Hongjoong and Yunho didn’t like the tone of voice he had.

He seemed… desperate. Just like before.

“Why are you around when things like this happen?” he was straightforward. He didn’t sugarcoat anything. He was simple and didn’t hesitate to say things when he wanted them.

Except in love relationships.

That was a whole different issue.

_ “I don’t have the answer for that,”  _ replied the astronomer.  _ “And I just wished that you would be happy without second thoughts. Until you don’t let him go, you won’t be able to accept what you feel for Seonghwa.” _

The astrobiology didn’t say anything at his remark. He remained as silent as he could. 

_ “I need for you to look at his last coordinates and send them to me,” _ asked the other.  _ “We would be able to know and pick up his life signal.”  _

Hongjoong simply nodded.

_ “We are stopping the asteroid in about an hour, so focus on that and we will continue this afterward,”  _ were his last words with a soft smile. The other took it as a goodbye and allowed him to hang up.

The astrobiology professor took a couple of deep breaths, knowing that somehow, it would be all right.

But deep inside, he was scared. If the other was alive, would he have the same feelings as before?

+++

Seonghwa was actively helping Wooyoung and the other people around them regarding the asteroid. Mingi was also doing some coordinates on the side, trying to figure out the best possible way of stopping it. Yeosang was in another computer, helping another lead. 

Hongjoong was observing all of them. They had a great team and he hoped that the observatory sees the potential, especially in Seonghwa. He didn’t have a bachelor’s yet and he did half of the work of people who have been there for years. That was impressive, which also reminded him of his long-lost love. 

He was in distress. He wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the trainees. He was mostly wondering about the possibility of him being alive.

“Dr. Kim,” he heard one of the trainees directing himself to him. It was the tallest one. He wasn’t in his group, so it was hard to learn all of the names, but he was as tall as Yunho, so he knew that somehow, he ended with him and the other trainee that they have yet to meet due to the catastrophe.

“Yes?”

“Dr. Jung asked me for these coordinates,” he said, taking out the hologram with some codes.

He was surprised the other lent him those, but in the end, it was a code that only the two of them knew. Even if they memorized it and tried to place it on the computer, it would lead to an error. Every time Yunho sent those, 3-4 numbers were missing, and each time, they were different numbers. Unless you were them, he made it impossible to deduct.

Hongjoong replied to the screen and it took him a while. He had them memorized, but he had to research silently again. When he was done, he sent them and thanked the tall trainee for his time.

After being done, he went again to his small distance. He was there, but far enough to not interrupt them. He thought everything was going smoothly until the alarm went off.

The astrobiology professor went pale and he almost teleported to a computer, trying to communicate with Yunho.

“Yunho, please,” he begged to himself, most of the computers going down as people gasped.

He was way too familiar with his process. This is the same way he lost the other. He wasn’t as attached as before, but he wasn’t going to lose him. Not like this.

“98 2173 193,” he heard Seonghwa say and his gut told him to trust him. He placed those coordinates and saw the spacecraft ripped, several pieces 

“No,” Hongjoong screamed, the pain in his voice being heard and he slammed the table. “Quick review,” he requested and heard Yeosang talking to him.

“The spacecraft was too close,” he said, running the report in front of him. “They split the asteroid and 1km will get to Earth, but the other debris was split too far away to worry about. However, they encountered a celestial body a couple of minutes after destroying it. Since they are in a blind spot, it was unknown. We lost communication with the entire spacecraft. No availability on data whether they were inside or outside the spacecraft.” 

“Probability?” he asked quickly after that.

“If they were inside and someone was quick to determine it, 75%,” mentioned the blonde-haired guy. “Not in the report, but based on the circumstances, I am sure the pilot died.” 

Hongjoong didn’t say anything, allowing him to continue.

“If they were outside doing a space check and they had their KENER, roughly 6 hours. There is an International Space by them, if he can attach the coordinates there, he can get back.” 

“How long would it take them to get there?” he continued to ask. He didn’t want to be seen as worrying about Yunho, although that was actually the case. 

He knew they were more human lives involved, but Yunho was his priority. He was being biased. He wanted him back.

“The same amount the KENER packer would last. It is a rough estimate,” and he wanted to continue, but the new student, named Jongho, said something on his behalf.

“If a small human spaceflight goes, it would take less,” he said, showing him the other coordinates he did by hand. “It’s taking us less than 30 seconds to arrive in outer space, we have approximate coordinates of their location and we can contact the International Space in less than a minute. The quicker, the better.” 

The professor of astrobiology wasn’t hating on Yeosang, he was stating facts, but he liked Jongho's idea way better. With that, he was sure he would start liking the guy in less than seconds. He did feel sorry he had to enter his internship in such chaos, but those were thoughts for later.

“Professor,” he heard the sweet voice he needed ringing his ears and he felt his soul coming to peace for a brief second.

That’s how much the university student affected him.

“We have a couple of holograms, but the one we need is not here yet.” 

His semblance didn’t change, he just looked at him. “Allow Yeosang to call them,” and the other nodded. He mouthed a brief thanks to the genius guy, who smiled in return. His plan sounded the most convincing one. He saw Yeosang sigh in defeat and immediately calling the International Space closest to their coordinates.

The call was received and a hologram of the chief appeared.

“Hello,” said Hongjoong. This was Yunho’s work, he hated communicating with people. It exhausted him to no end. He was about to say some other stuff when Seonghwa interrupted him. 

“We are calling from the Navis Observatory,” the student looked at the professor with the sweetest smile he could and Hongjoong swore to himself he almost died inside. The things he felt with him were surreal and he wasn’t supposed to be that into him.

“We… don’t know exactly where the last crew went,” he continued, before giving them the information they needed. “Based on the coordinates, they are closest to this International Space Station.” 

_ “I got a couple of calls regarding the same situation, but we couldn’t do anything unless you guys ordered,” _ said the chief, his navigator appearing beside him.

_ “I will be going out with another navigator,” _ said the newcomer.  _ “We made a plan while we waited for a call. We do not guarantee anything.”  _

“We know,” was Seonghwa’s response. “We just want to try as much as we can.” 

_ “You must be new,”  _ said the chief.  _ “What’s your name?” _

“Park Seonghwa,” he answered back with a soft smile. “I am a trainee from the Oakleaf University.”

_ “Oh,” _ said the chief while the navigator started laughing.  _ “Your professor is there, right?” _

Seonghwa denied. “My professor is… stuck.” 

_ “Hm,” _ was his reply.  _ “Back up?” _

“I am here,” intervene Hongjoong. “Yunho does this part. I’m not much of a talker,” he said for the sake of them leaving Seonghwa alone. He understood it was a procedure, they needed to make sure a higher up was the one making the decision, but this was getting out of hand and they needed to do this fast.

_ “It’s okay,” _ was the chief’s reply.  _ “The navigator is preparing himself, it will take another 2 minutes or so. We just sent a satellite-based on the coordinates given,” _ Hongjoong looked at Jongho and Yeosang and mouthed ‘good job’, they smiled back at him.  _ “We see some debris.”  _

“Any other updates?” replied Seonghwa this time. 

_ “Not yet,” _ was his response.  _ “The navigator is prepared to go out.”  _

_ “My turn,” _ spoke the other navigator.  _ “Nice to meet you, Seonghwa. I hope you have fun with boring Hongjoong. My name’s Mingyu,”  _ were his final words to the student. He laughed a bit while Hongjoong rolled his eyes. 

_ “Be careful,” _ said the chief, giving him a sweet and worrying look. The other astronaut smiled back at him and simply took his hand, giving it a soft squeeze.

That interchange of gazes said more than a billion words.

_ “Oh?” _ he heard some screams at the back and the entire section froze, their eyes at the hologram in front of them. 

_ “Okay, follow me,” _ where the chief’s words, the little machine going after him as they floated towards the back of the noises.

They were hearing some _pull it,_ _pull it_ , but the chief was still on his way.

“ _ Nera, go,” _ he told the little machine and suddenly it transferred at the speed of light towards the commotion.

Hongjoong held his breath.


End file.
